Update.

So, we're in our new house and we don't have that much more work to do. *Sigh of relief* It's definitely starting to feel like home and I love having so much more space to spread out! Cam's been going through a stage of arguing and fussing so it's been a little stressful. We're dealing with it as best we can. We're being very consistent with his punishments and his consequences. I'm 5 weeks pregnant this week and I'll go for my ultrasound on the 30th. I feel pretty good but I'm just so thankful to be pregnant. Having gone through the situation I did for the past year and now being blessed with a pregnancy makes me realize how ungrateful some women are to be pregnant. They want to always complain, moan, and groan about how they can't wait to "just have a drink when the baby comes" or "just can't wait to get this thing outta me." Barph. How about...be thankful and thoughtful. There are women that can't have babies at all. Jerks. Mat has been sooo great helping me around the house and trying to take Cam off my hands. I love my boys! God has been so good to me, even though I don't deserve it.

Sunday.

This has been one of the most tiring weeks of my life. Moving, painting, unpacking, practicing for the event, and playing music. I need sleep and rest! Hopefully I'll get some after next weekend is over. Our house is taking shape and will hopefully be done in a week or so! I'm so ready to not have all this clutter sitting around.

Mom got Cam's Halloween costume yesterday. He's going to be Buzz Lightyear! He's definitely a fan. We have a busy 2 weeks ahead. Justin and Bunny are getting married next weekend, and then we have the RWCF Women's meeting and then Halloween time!! I think we may let Cam paint his pumpkin tonight.

We'll be celebrating our 3rd anniversary on Tuesday. I have something special for Mat, but I can't tell what it is because he has no idea :) It's hard to believe we've already been together for 4 years! I'm kind of jumping around all over the place, but that's how my brain feels... I've really been enjoying Wednesday night church. We've been going through the New Testament from the beginning and it's been great. I love learning God's Word and hearing the different interpretations of the passages. I'm learning so much! I'm happy and happy is good :)

So Busy.

This had got to be one of the busiest times of my life! I can't find any time to rest or really do anything fun. I know it will be all worth it, but I'm ready for a weekend that I don't have anything to do. I'm ready to get this show over on Saturday because I can barely play bass when my fingers hurt so bad from painting for hours the night before. Ugh, I really don't like complaining, so I'll stop and discuss happy things!

We're almost ready to move out last items out of the house, i.e. t.v., beds, couch.The plan is to do that on Tuesday and sleep there that night. I still have to work on getting this house ready for someone else to move in here. (You know anyone? It's a nice house at a good price!) Anyhoo, Cam loves the new house. He loves having 2 rooms and the cement outside along with Mat's new garage is plenty of space for him to play. I'll post pics on Facebook because you never can tell who's reading your blog.

Here's a recipe that I threw together the other night. It literally took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

1 lb. pasta (I used medium sized shells because that's what Cam picked)
Sauteed chicken (I used 1 can chicken and 1 leftover grilled breast b/c that's what I had)
1 package baby bella mushrooms
3 cups baby spinach
1 tbs flour
onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cream cheese
a 1/3 cup chicken broth
1/2 can great northern beans
salt and pepper to taste
EVOO

Cook pasta to al dente in salted water.

Heat the pan over medium high heat. 1 turn of EVOO in the pan should do it. Let that heat up and drop in your chopped onion. Cook til translucent and add in the chopped mushrooms. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes and add garlic. When the mushrooms are almost tender add salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the flour and stir. Let cook for 1-2 minutes. Throw chicken in and heat through. Add chicken broth and stir. Scrape up any bits off the bottom of the pan. Let that simmer and thicken just a little. Add your cream cheese (you may want to use more than 1/2 cup) and melt into the sauce. It will turn into a rich and silky cream sauce. Let that simmer for a few minutes. Add your spinach. It looks like a lot, but it will wilt down to almost nothing. Add beans and mix through. When the sauce is done add in the drained pasta. They should be done right around the same time.

Now, what I did was added a little more chicken broth and cheese to make more sauce. Just make sure you have enough sauce for the amount of pasta. Check the seasonings after you add the pasta. You'll probably need to add salt and pepper. If you have any basil, it would be delicious, I just didn't have any.

So, there you go! It was soooo good! Mat said it was his favorite pasta ever....and I make a lot of thrown together pasta!

They were delicious.

Here's the recipe for the Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies I made tonight. They're good!

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup margarine, softened
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C ). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together peanut butter and margarine. Gradually blend in the brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture until well blended.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in preheated oven, or until the top springs back when touched. Cool, and cut into 16 squares.

I made a peanut butter frosting to smear on top. I combined about 1/2 cup of peanut butter with 2 tablespoons of confectioners sugar then added a splash of milk to loosen it up. Layer on top when The brownies are hot. I hope you enjoy it!

Milestone.

I just bought Cam's first suit. It's so adorable! He's going to look so snazzy at Justin and Bunny's wedding. I'll post a pic of him in it soon! Now off to make some peanut butter brownies to take to the Finley's tonight. If they're delicious, I'll share the recipe!

History.

My wonderful husband brought me roses and a sweet card today. It makes me smile to be so blessed :) To think of where we started out....wow. We've come so far! The night we were reacquainted, I almost backed out at the last minute. My mom pushed me to go to movie night at Mat Bishop's house because she was worried about the people I had been hanging out with and what I had been doing with my time. She wanted me to try and hang out with people outside of my circle. I drove to a mutual friend's house and we drove to Mat's house. The funny thing is when I told my mom I would go, inside I said:"I'm just going to go make friends. I've had enough with dating." I had just gotten out of a relationship and had really had bad luck with guys recent years. I was somewhat jaded.

We rolled up at 6 Vaughn Avenue right on time. It was weird because I had no idea what to expect. Nowadays I normally have a plan for every day. I lived so differently back then! On the front porch sat Mat playing his guitar; chubby, hairy, musical Mat. Immediately I thought:"Hmmm...I like musicians." He was my type, but totally different from how I remembered him from 6th grade in Mrs. Loftis' class. He was a J.T.T look-a-like with a blonde bowl cut and a scratchy voice. (Loved it!!) Anyhoo, we walked up on the front porch and everyone came outside. Some of them I had known for years, and some I had never met. We were all so different. I was one of 2 people there who smoked. I was one of may 3 that drank, and I drank a lot. I was the only one who had been married. I was the only one who had lived a life like mine, which in recent years had turned into a life of bad decisions and, although fun at times, a bad existence. I look back now and know that it's only by the grace of God that I'm alive.

We hung out that night until the wee hours of the morning going to haunted houses and searching for Snickers ice cream bars.By the end of the night he had invited me to Clemson the coming weekend. we went and had a fabulous "first date" watching Booncock Saints while Super Todd slept on the couch beside us. The next day we went home and crawled into his bed and slept until we were hungry. He ordered us a Domino's pizza and we watched movies and sang songs until I had to go home! It was sort of unconventional, but that's how it happened for us. After a month of dating we broke up one night because of the vast differences in our lives. The next morning I get a text saying ,"I don't care about the differences. I freaking love you!" From then on, I spent a couple of months trying to fight him off. I told him how we would never work and how he just thought me loved me. I told him I didn't love him and we were wasting our time. His response was always,"We'll see." After a while of hanging out strictly as friends I started to have feelings for him again. One night I was hanging out with the people I was always around and I missed Mat. I was scared, but I wanted to be with him. We arranged to meet the next day at his house to go do something. When I pulled up in his driveway my heart was beating fast because I knew I was going to have to say something to him about how I was feeling. We got in his truck and got about 1/8 of a mile from his house before I said,"Stop the truck." He stopped and looked over at me. I didn't even know what I was going to say! My heart was about to pound out of my chest! Then, before I knew it I said,"Will you just kiss me?" Without missing a beat he grabbed my face and we sat in the middle of the road making up for all the kisses we had missed during the time I was trying to turn him away from me. That was a good date. I totally have no idea what we did for the rest of that day!

It all happened so fast. We started dating in November, we moved in together soon after that, and we told everyone we lived together like 2 months later. I didn't say I started making great decisions yet. After 5 months of dating, we found out I was pregnant. We were both so excited, but scared! Our relationship was so strong and passionate from the beginning. Our lives had merged together so seamlessly and quickly it's kind of hard to believe now. Mat definitely influenced me in a positive way. We started going to church together, which was something I hadn't been doing in like 8 years. He started talking to me little by little about his belief in God, which is something I had but had all but abandoned trying to live Biblically. In some ways I influenced him negatively, but thankfully all those influcences have been absolved. We have had some very hard times, but we have always worked through them and come together to grow stronger. Our marriage suffered after we had the baby and found ourselves struggling over being parents and being twenty year olds who wanted to go out and make less than smart decisions. Amazingly enough, I was the one who made the decision for myself that I was going to change my life. I was going to give up everything to walk on a different path and I didn't care what it took. I was going to follow Christ and trust that he would get me through. I told Mat he could follow me or not. He did, thankfully!

Since that time, we have grown so much in the Lord. We have turned our marriage over to him, even though we still have work to do. Our relationship is truly unlike any other I've ever known. We communicate, not always perfectly, but we try. We pray for each other, which makes all the difference. We parent together and not against each other. And most of all we love each other. We sometimes have to have our fire for each other relit, but we always love each other. Mat and I continue to build a home of God, of trust, of laughter, of comfort, and of peace. I am a blessed woman. My two boys are the greatest gift and I wouldn't trade them for anything. They're the only friends I need. They're my reason. This turned into a way longer blog than I had planned. I started writing to say that my wonderful husband brought me flowers and very sweet card today with a very sweet message inside and....I love him. I love him. I love him.

Baby Prayers.

Any of you who know Cam know that he is a talkative little one after he warms up. I find that, over the past 2 1/2 years, that his little conversations sometimes don't register with me. If I'm up washing dishes, folding laundry, or doing one of my other chores his ramblings can become almost like a background noise.

Today I was trying to get back into the swing of things after being sick and lazy for a few days. I was sweeping the kitchen floor and heard him chatting away in the living room. I caught a glimpse of him as I passed and saw him sitting on the couch with a book in his lap. Then I tuned into his little voice and heard him praying such a sweet little prayer. It went something like this: "...and for this guy. Jesus, help the giraffe and him. And God..." Well, that's when he noticed me spying on him! But it really made me emotional! As a mommy, it's so awesome to see my little one growing and learning such awesome things at such a young age. It really shows how much they pay attention. As a wife, it makes me proud that my husband and I have committed to instilling these values in our child. I can't even explain how far away I am from the person I used to be. Had I seen a little boy saying a prayer like that say, 5 years ago, I would have found it comical. There's no way I would have believed that a little boy Cam's age would sit down and say a prayer all by himself. To me it says that my little man already has a relationship with Jesus. I believe by being raised by followers of Christ, he has felt that love all along! And the really cool thing is that I have thought back....and when we say his prayers, it's mostly things like thank yous and we love yous. To walk in on him saying "help the giraffe" was really awesome. We haven't normally prayed for help in his bedtime prayers. I guess maybe we should expand on his praying a little :)

I am so incredibly grateful to the Lord that He saw fit to allow me to be the mom of such an amazing little soul, and that He has blessed me with this life that I could have never imagined! I am so proud of my family. I used to think I could do it all on my own. Man...I was soooooo mistaken! I am desperate for the love and grace shown only my Savior.

I really want to ask for your prayers. Mat and I are trying to get pregnant again (we have been for almost a year now). I know it will happen in God's time. But I just ask that you all pray for us as we put forth our best effort to create another awesome little baby to raise and love! I've prayed that if it wasn't meant to happen, that God would take away my desire until it is time. My desire is stronger than ever...so now I'm asking for prayer from you! Thanks in advance!